January 5, 2009
Fighting flares outside Gaza City
Militants engage Israeli forces near Gaza City as “friendly fire” kills three soldiers on the third night of the ground offensive.
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Filed under: Videos, Crossovers/CUVs, Cadillac
Click above to watch video after the jump
The current Cadillac SRX is a competent vehicle, although it hasn’t come close to selling as many units as the Lexus RX350, let alone the Acura MDX. GM is looking to change that with the thoroughly revised 2010 Cadillac SRX. Gone are the station wagon looks and rear wheel drive, and in its place is a new front drive platform and sheetmetal that looks the part of a true crossover contender. General Motors has ditched its larger powertrains for an efficient 3.0L, direct injected V6 and a 300 horsepower, 2.8L turbocharged unit that have the potential to quell fears that the new 2010 model will be lacking in the performance department. We had the chance to speak with Cadillac Marketing Director Steve Shannon to get an in-depth tour of the new SRX, and you can get the inside story in the video after the jump.
Gallery: 2010 Cadillac SRX Live
Continue reading VIDEO: 2010 Cadillac SRX in detail
VIDEO: 2010 Cadillac SRX in detail originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 05 Jan 2009 19:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Ministers in charge of East African Affairs have discussed the ongoing fuel crisis in the region as a way of finding a solution to the problem that has affected the region despite the general decrease of its price on the global market.
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Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak stunned visiting foreign ministers Monday when he said he wanted Israel to emerge as the winner in the current conflict in Gaza.
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The BBC’s Richard Lister reports on President-elect Barack Obama’s unwillingness to comment on Israel’s invasion of Gaza.
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Filed under: By the Numbers
We didn’t know sales for the U.S. auto industry in 2008 would be this bad when the year began, but it sure ended on a fitting note. Over the past six months or so we’ve seen the U.S. auto sales market nearly collapse and almost take our own domestic auto industry with it.
Nevertheless, there were a couple of standouts. Both MINI and Subaru somehow managed to post sales gains in 2008 compared to the previous year. The success of MINI is likely due to production capacity more than popularity, but we have no explanation for Subaru other than its sales staff is more persuasive than at your average car dealership.
As for the big dogs, despite the whole lot of them being hit equally hard over the past few months, Japanese automakers had a stronger first half of 2008. As such, their year-end sales data looks better than the domestics with Toyota being the worst performing Japanese automaker at -15.4% and Honda fairing the best with a drop of just 7.91%. In comparison, Ford Motor Company (-20.7%) and General Motors (-22.9%) were equally unimpressive while the Chrysler Group hemorrhaged sales and finished down a full 30%.
As for the rest of the auto industry, it’s all their below and it isn’t pretty.
| BY THE NUMBERS - 2008 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brand | Vol. % Change | Total Sales 2008 | Total Sales 2007 | DSR % Change | Daily Avg. 2008 | Daily Avg. 2007 |
| Acura |
-19.8% | 144,504 | 180,104 | -20% | 469 | 587 |
| Audi | -6.1% | 87,760 | 93,506 | -6.4% | 285 | 305 |
| BMW | -15.2% | 249,113 | 293,795 | -15.5% | 809 | 957 |
| Buick | -26.2% | 137,197 | 185,791 | -26.4% | 445 | 605 |
| Cadillac | -24.9% | 161,159 | 214,726 | -25.2% | 523 | 699 |
| Chevrolet | -20.5% | 1,801,131 | 2,265,641 | -20.8% | 5,848 | 7,380 |
| Chrysler | -38.3% | 335,108 | 543,011 | -38.5% | 1,088 | 1,769 |
| Dodge | -25.9% | 784,113 | 1,058,402 | -26.2% | 2,546 | 3,448 |
| Ford | -19.7% | 1,687,731 | 2,101,244 | -19.9% | 5,480 | 6,844 |
| GMC | -25.5% | 376,996 | 505,746 | -25.7% | 1,224 | 1,647 |
| Honda | -6.4% | 1,284,261 | 1,371,438 | -6.7% | 4,170 | 4,467 |
| HUMMER | -50.9% | 27,485 | 55,986 | -51% | 89 | 182 |
| Hyundai | NA | |||||
| Infiniti | -11% | 112,989 | 127,038 | -11.3% | 367 | 414 |
| Jeep | -29.7% | 333,901 | 475,237 | -30% | 1,084 | 1,548 |
| Kia | -10.5% | 273,397 | 305,473 | -10.8% | 888 | 995 |
| Lexus | -21% | 260,087 | 329,177 | -21.2% | 844 | 1,072 |
| Lincoln | -18.4% | 107,295 | 131,487 | -18.7% | 348 | 428 |
| Mazda | -10.9% | 263,949 | 296,110 | -11.2% | 857 | 965 |
| Mercedes-Benz | -11.2% | 225,128 | 253,433 | -11.5% | 731 | 826 |
| Mercury | -28.6% | 120,248 | 168,422 | -28.8% | 390 | 549 |
| MINI | 28.6% | 54,077 | 42,045 | 28.2% | 176 | 137 |
| Mitsubishi | -24.6% | 97,257 | 128,993 | -24.8% | 316 | 420 |
| Nissan | -10.9% | 838,361 | 941,200 | -11.2% | 2,722 | 3,066 |
| Pontiac | -25.3% | 267,348 | 358,022 | -25.6% | 868 | 1,166 |
| Porsche | -25% | 26,035 | 34,693 | -25.2% | 85 | 113 |
| Saab | -34.7% | 21,368 | 32,711 | -34.9% | 69 | 107 |
| Saturn | -21.7% | 188,004 | 240,091 | -21.9% | 610 | 782 |
| Subaru | 0.3% | 187,699 | 187,208 | -0.06 | 609 | 610 |
| Suzuki | NA | |||||
| Toyota | -14.6% | 1,957,575 | 2,291,648 | -14.9% | 6,356 | 7,464 |
| Volkswagen | -3.2% | 223,128 | 230,572 | -3.5% | 724 | 751 |
| Volvo | -31.2% | 73,102 | 106,213 | -31.4% | 237 | 346 |
| COMPANIES | ||||||
| BMW Group | -9.7% | 303,190 | 335,840 | -10% | 984 | 1,094 |
| Chrysler LLC | -30% | 1,453,122 | 2,076,650 | -30.3% | 4,717 | 6,764 |
| FoMoCo | -20.7% | 1,988,376 | 2,507,366 | -30% | 6,456 | 8,167 |
| General Motors | -22.9% | 2,980,688 | 3,866,620 | -23.2% | 9,678 | 12,594 |
| Honda America | -7.91% | 1,428,765 | 1,551,542 | -8.21% | 4,369 | 5,054 |
| Nissan NA | -10.9% | 951,350 | 1,068,238 | -11.2% | 3,081 | 3,480 |
| Toyota Mo Co | -15.4% | 2,217,662 | 2,620,825 | -15.7% | 7,200 | 8,537 |
2008 had 308 selling days versus 307 selling days for 2007
By The Numbers - 2008: Phew! Glad That’s Over Edition originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 05 Jan 2009 19:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Israel's Golani Brigade 13th Battalion suffered heavy casualties on Monday in the army's Cast Lead offensive.
A new embassy in Iraq has been opened by the US.
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A shopping and residential section of Bangkok's Chinatown caught fire on Monday, killing one person and injuring at least 38 others.
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Filed under: Trends, Earnings/Financials
Rubber factory workers in South Korea haven’t had a very happy holiday season this year, and they can blame it on the negative traits of the trickle-down effect.
Because Hyundai/Kia has been hit as hard as any other automaker in this economic crisis, business has been down for the country’s second-largest tire maker, Kumho, as well. Due to the resulting dearth in liquidity, Kumho Tire Co. has just announced that it is unable to pay its workers their annual bonus. At 2.5 million won ($1,883) per worker and 3000 workers waiting for their cash, that’s a lot of money, and Kumho says they don’t have it… and don’t know when they will.
Looks like it’s tire-swings all around for Junior next Christmas, too…
[Source: TradingMarkets.com]
Burned Rubber: Kumho delays holiday bonuses indefinitely originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 05 Jan 2009 14:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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